To improve the performance of our website, show the most relevant news products and targeted advertising, we collect technical impersonal information about you, including through the tools of our partners. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy. For a detailed description of the technologies, please see the Cookie and Automatic Logging Policy.

By clicking on the "Accept & Close" button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your data to achieve the above goal.

You can withdraw your consent using the method specified in the Privacy Policy.

Last week, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud accused Iran of "supporting terrorism" and called on regional powers to "resolutely confront" Tehran.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, special aide for international affairs to the speaker of Iran's Parliament, has called on Riyadh to stop assisting the US in its economic war against the Islamic Republic, hinting that there would be consequences if they failed to do so.

"If Saudi leaders don't stop aiding & abetting the US in its economic war against Iran they must wait for its new & shocking decision", the official wrote in a recent tweet, without clarifying what this "shocking decision" would be.

"The clock is ticking so fast for the continuity of Saudi-Emirati-Israeli dirty policies", he added, posting a caricature featuring the Saudi king dancing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with feet made of bombs.

The official's warning follows emergency summits of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Arab League members, convened by Saudi Arabia to discuss the alleged threat posed by Iran to the region. The meetings followed last month's attacks on oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, which the US immediately blamed on Tehran. Saudi Arabia later followed suit, with Salman accusing Iran of engaging in "subversive actions" during last week's meetings.

Iran has vehemently denied any involvement in the tanker attacks, and called on the international community to investigate the acts of sabotage. Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with Iraqi officials and called on Gulf countries to sign a non-aggression pact with Tehran in an effort to defuse regional tensions.

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, countries informally seen as the leaders of the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam, respectively, have been poor for decades. In early 2016, Riyadh severed all diplomatic ties with Tehran after Iranian activists attacked Saudi diplomatic missions to protest the execution of prominent Saudi Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Tensions between Iran and key Saudi ally the United States also escalated last month after Washington accused Iran of plotting attacks against US interests in the Middle East and substantially beefed up its regional military presence. This included the deployment of a US carrier strike group, hundreds of fresh troops, strategic bombers, and Patriot missile batteries.

On Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo indicated that the US would be willing to talk to Tehran, but only if the country began behaving "like a normal nation". Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani similarly said that Iranian officials were ready to speak to their US counterparts, but only if Washington showed respect for Iran and followed internationally accepted rules of conduct.

By clicking the "Post" button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your Facebook account data to enable you to comment to the news on our website using this account. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy.

By checking this box, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your personal data to create an account on the Sputnik website for posting comments to news. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy.
You can withdraw your consent by using the feedback form or the method specified in the Privacy Policy.

* All fields are required

Please confirm your e-mail to continue. Confirmation instructions have been sent to

Hello,
!

We are committed to protecting your personal information and we have updated our Privacy Policy to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a new EU regulation that went into effect on May 25, 2018.

Please review our Privacy Policy. It contains details about the types of data we collect, how we use it, and your data protection rights.

Since you already shared your personal data with us when you created your personal account, to continue using it, please check the box below:

I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of creating a personal account on this site, in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

If you do not want us to continue processing your data, please click here to delete your account.

promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;

contains links to viruses and malicious software;

is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");

“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;

violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");

doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.